Queens Gambit

Quote: EvenBob

...Chess has no point except as a useless exercise to waste time because you can't find anything better to do. I smoked opium once and realized feeling this good could be addicting. I never did it again.

Again, you can make a case for that about anything. If I had instead collected 600 books that were not chess related, I would have been better off and not have wasted my time?

Chess is no more or no less of a waste of time than any other pastime or hobby. Many "addictions" can be positive addictions. Positive addictions strengthen us and make our lives more satisfying. They also enable us to live with more confidence, more creativity, and more happiness, and usually in much better health. Positive addictions, unlike their negative cousins, enhance life.

When I moved to Bisbee, people would play in the town park and I figured I'd join them on occasion. With the virus, they removed the tables with the built-in boards but hopefully they return. i'd like to play slightly better players on a regular basis. I think it's the best way to improve.

Quote: EdCollins

You could play online. No matter what your level is, there are an endless number of players who also play at your level. After a short number of games you'll be given a rating and then after that you can play against players with a similar rating.

I tried, but it's not the same thing. I can play chess in person for hours on end, but after one or two games online, I'm done.
In NY, I had a friend that would play online, while using a computer program to dictate what moves to make.

Because of Star Trek I played 3-D chess
in the late 60's. It was made of plastic
and a neighbor and I had ongoing
games. Until one day as we were
playing the cat jumped on the
table and swept the whole thing
onto the floor breaking it into
pieces. So ended 3-D chess for me.

Quote: teliot

I should have become a life member in the early 1990's when it cost about $350. Thanks for the link.

Gosh, I think the life member cost was higher. Back in early Bobby Fischer days, the US Chess Federation had an option in the early 1970's to become a Life member by making 10 annual installment payments. That's what I did. IIRC, regular adult annual membership at the time was $10/yr or $1,000 one-time payment for Life membership. I made 10 payments of $100 each. By the time I finished the 10th year, I think the adult membership cost $50/year.

I played tournaments until I realized that chess was not a static target, but instead was forever morphing as different variations were discovered. My rating had me almost exactly on the 50th percentile. I enjoyed playing, but caught flack from my GF after one tournament. I would put my elbows on the table and use my hands like the brim of a hat. I came home with raw, bloody elbows, plus I chipped a tooth grinding my jaw in tough positions. She said that for future tournaments I might have to wear elbow pads and a sports tooth protector.

I liked Aron Nimzovich's books and games. Also those of Pal Benko. They each took an out-of-the-box perspective on chess.

Question: Frank Marshall sacrificed his queen to win a game later called the "Shower of Gold" chess game. Observers were so surprised by the unexpected queen sacrifice, they reportedly started tossing (then standard?) gold coins onto the floor in his direction. The game was real. But, I think I've seen stories both ways as to whether or not the "shower of gold" was real. Does anyone know? I don't think I've ever seen a definitive source.

Reinfeld is an instructor par excellence. I first encountered his gentle style as a newbie youngster 50 years ago. Within a year I was able to upset a few opponents in a city tournament.

Quote: LuckyPhow

Question: Frank Marshall sacrificed his queen to win a game later called the "Shower of Gold" chess game. Observers were so surprised by the unexpected queen sacrifice, they reportedly started tossing (then standard?) gold coins onto the floor in his direction. The game was real. But, I think I've seen stories both ways as to whether or not the "shower of gold" was real. Does anyone know? I don't think I've ever seen a definitive source.

I remember reading that the players tossed gold coins on the floor... because they lost a bet!

However, I've also read the following:

According to legend, the magnificence of Marshall’s move inspired spectators to shower the board with gold pieces, thus giving this match the name of the “gold coins game.” In his book My Fifty Years of Chess published in 1942, Marshall wrote this comment about his game against Levitsky:

Perhaps you have heard about this game, which so excited the spectators that they “showered me with gold pieces!” I have often been asked whether this really happened. The answer is – yes, that is what happened, literally!

And no, I've never seen a definitive source. I do remember enjoying that move when I was first saw it as a 12-year-old.

More on that game here:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/marshall1.html

Here's an article at Slate where Garry Karparov discusses his role as technical advisor for The Queen's Gambit including how some of the games were selected. Obviously he specialized in the Russian parts of the story such as: Is it possible that an American in 1960's Moscow could take a phone call from New York without the KGB writing down everything that's said?

He also mentions other chess films he likes.

Slate Kasparov Interview

Quote: billryan

In the mid-90s, I had a day bartender who started playing chess while behind the bar. Word got around and before we knew it, he would play six or seven games at the same time and business picked up as people came to see it. He said he never played in tournaments but he was one of the best players I ever saw. He had an uncanny ability to trap people into doing his bidding for him. The game would develop and he would seemingly make a mistake but what he was really doing was making his opponent react to him rather than have a strategy of his own. Even knowing this, he'd still suck people into his traps. It was actually fun to watch.
I enjoy playing chess but it's hard to find people who play at my level. I'm good enough to destroy most casual players but not talented enough to play anyone at the top levels, so I mostly play computers and it's just not the same as watching your opponent slowly realize he is outclassed and outgunned.

IIRC it takes about 15 Captains for you beat me. (-:

The first time I ever saw a woman play
chess was in the Thomas Crown Affair.
I'd never seen a woman play, it was
very sexy. We had no girl players
in the tournaments I was in, I don't
even know if it was allowed. To be
beaten by a girl in pre feminist days
would have been the ultimate
humiliation. That the guys in the
mid 60's in the movie took it so well is very
unrealistic. We were all nerds and
if a girl as beautiful as Beth was playing
us, no way could we have concentrated
on the game.